Doing The Most

We all ‘pay our dues.’ Day in and day out, we pay what we owe. We leave tips, even when we don’t get the quality of service we hope for. In the workplace, we ‘pay our dues’ when we give someone the respect they deserve, repay a favor, follow through on what is asked of us, and we go above and beyond once in a while. After all, we think, “It’s the least I can do.”When you step back and reflect, how do you feel when you speak these words? Do you feel generous and openhearted? I don’t. Paying our dues doesn’t make us feel good because it only gets us to ground zero…in other words, it gets us nowhere. Leadership – in every domain of life – is doing the most we can do, not the least we can do. ‘Doing the most’ doesn’t mean sacrificing work/life balance, and it doesn’t mean burning ourselves out. Doing the most simply means opening our heart to all we can offer, within healthy boundaries, rather than closing down out of fear of being burdened or overwhelmed. The joy of leadership begins when we learn to do the most we can do. Take a simple example: Imagine that you see an elderly gentleman coming toward a door with bags in both arms. The least you can do is open the door for him. How does this make you feel? The most you can do is offer to help, carry the bags, engage him in a warmhearted conversation, and wish him well as you leave. How does this make you feel in comparison? Now find a personal example: Think of an area in which you are “doing your least” and consider, what is the most you can do in this situation? Now – just for fun – say this out loud as if you mean it. How do you feel? What is it like to live from this new space?